Rating

Reviews

Reviewed May 01, 1986 12:00 AM

Critical Rating: A

The state of affairs for black actors and actresses in adult
films and videos borders on dreadful. If adult films
can be accused of not representing reality or normal sexual
values ( a lot of them can), then the current rash of
all-black and interracial video features should be brandished
for their lack of intelligence in dealing with black
lifestyles.

Blacks in adult films, especially the men, serve as mere
objects. I’ve seen most of the tapes in this
genre, and would venture to say that more than half of them
are embarrassing – the results of white screenwriters
making racist references to basketball or fried chicken,
depicting blacks as little more than sexual slaves.

But these tapes seem to sell very well; apparently an
audience of both blacks and whites are renting and buying
these features. So I ask the same question that I often
do about certain genres of adult video: Why not make an
intelligent, realistic movie about black lifestyles?
And don’t forget the titles: Chocolate This and
Black That. It comes from a very creative pool.

Thankfully, the latest two examples of black exploitation
videos cannot be called racist. They’re just
poorly made tapes. More Chocolate Candy, a
sequel to the much better Chocolate Candy and
Chocolate Bon Bons look like the same tape. The
directors, stars, manufacturing companies and plots are
different, but the problems are very much the same.

Each production contains extremely straightforward and
repetitive sex, bad scripts, stiff acting and sloppy
editing. Of the two, More Chocolate Candy boasts
a little better video quality, but every scene seems the
same, dissolving into a shot of a house before the next scene
begins. Both tapes have echoing sound, with More
Chocolate Candy suffering from extraneous noise on the
soundtrack. Meanwhile, not to be left in the dust, the
music in Chocolate Bon Bons drowns out what
decipherable dialogue there is.

For the record, More Chocolate Candy is about a photography
business that records its clients’ fantasies. The
best sex scene involves Mauvis De Noire, the most attractive
actress of the bunch, and veteran Sahara. In Chocolate
Bon Bons, a shaven Tasha Voux and Syreeta Taylor provide the
only sparks in a water-and-land lesbian sequence, amidst a
story about a chocolate candy that provides men with superior
sexual prowess. Unfortunately, none of the actors in
either production tried the candy; each of them (both black
and white) perform without much personality or drive.
But who would, given this slight material.

I wonder when producers and directors are going to give
blacks the same opportunities in adult cinema that
they’re finally getting in mainstream cinema.
Meanwhile, why is Jack Baker the only black performer in
adult video allowed to stretch his acting skills?